A research team led by Assistant Professor Chetphilin Suriyasak and Professor Yushi Ishibashi of the Environment and Food Unit and the Sustainable Food Resource Design Research SIF has uncovered a novel mechanism by which high temperatures during the rice grain-filling stage induce an “epigenetic memory” in seeds through DNA methylation. The study further revealed that this memory alters gene expression and agricultural traits—including yield—in subsequent generations.
These findings suggest that, in response to increasing heat stress caused by climate change, it may become possible to regulate crop traits through environmental design during seed formation—without modifying genetic sequences—by utilizing the “epigenomic memory” of seeds. In the future, this approach is expected to contribute to the development of climate-adaptive cultivation strategies, optimization of seed production and seedling cultivation processes, and technologies for stabilizing crop yields.
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